Kate Dinning: Darwin’s 2024 event bucket list
From fashion to food to just plain fun, there are things you have to try in 2024. SEE THE FULL LIST
If there’s one thing I love about the NT, it’s the fact that I can be at a world class arts & entertainment festival one minute, and a boat race on beer cans the next.
After having so many consecutive experiences at events that had me sitting there thinking “this is why the NT is so great”, I created an NT events bucket list: the things I always tell people they’ve got to go to at least once!
MUSIC & ARTS
BASSINTHEGRASS is the Territory’s biggest and longest-running music festival, and it’s a great way to kickstart your Dry Season every May.
This year the line-up includes international artist Macklemore, iconic Aussie bands Jet and Bliss N Eso, and dance/club favourites in Bag Raiders and What So Not.
Not to be confused with the Darwin Festival, the DARWIN FRINGE is on a month earlier, and is a mecca for local emerging artists.
If you’re looking for a place to ethically purchase Indigenous textiles and amazing artwork from over 70 Indigenous owned art centres, the DARWIN ABORIGINAL ART FAIR at the Convention Centre in August is for you.
My advice is to go on the first day and just look, as it can be quite overwhelming with so much great art, and then go back the second day and choose.
If you’ve been to Darwin in August, it’s hard to miss the DARWIN FESTIVAL as it takes over the city and even the suburbs with amazing music, art and performance.
A night in Festival Park is a must, and if you’re only going to do a couple of shows – book one you really want to see, and one that’s sounds completely random. Trust me!
In the last seven years, the DARWIN STREET ART FESTIVAL has literally painted the town with over 100 murals.
You can download the app and follow the Street Art trail all year round – but watching the artists paint during the festival is extra special.
For a real NT experience, get yourself a ticket to EAST ARNHEM LIVE.
There’s many community festivals you could include, such as Barunga and Freedom Day Festival.
In its two short years of operation this festival has welcomed some awesome national bands, and given opportunity to many local ones – and it’s a bloody good music show.
ONLY IN THE NT
Some Territorians have an excuse for drinking beers all year … to create the ‘tinnys’ they race for the BEER CAN REGATTA.
Head down to Mindil Beach on a sunny Sunday in July, and chuckle at the ‘Darwin-ness’ of it all – then stay for dinner at the Mindil Markets!
If you’ve ever done the Kings Canyon walk and pretended you were in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, then FAB ALICE is a must.
An annual, unique showcase of Drag, Family, Comedy and Cabaret events – complete with a street party and a gala!
The FINKE DESERT RACE is said to be one of the most difficult off-road races in the world – bikes and buggies race through red dirt, sand and spinifex in Central Australia.
If you’re going to do it, do it properly and find a crew to camp down the track with.
We drove down from Darwin one June long weekend, and the journey is part of the adventure – but pack your thermals.
FOOD & DRINK
If you ever needed another excuse to drink a cocktail in the sunshine, the DARWIN COCKTAIL FESTIVAL at the Ski Club can give you just that.
It’s Darwin’s best cocktail bars, set up together in one very ‘Darwin’ spot for the afternoon: under palm trees, by the water.
The DARWIN LAKSA FESTIVAL is in October which is peak sweat season, and it’s fabulous! Everyone gets around it and releases their own laksa flavoured *everything*, so add having laksa for breakfast, lunch and dinner to your bucket list!
Someone once told me that eating laksa when it’s hot actually cools you down, and I’m rolling with it.
Got an event we should add to our bucket lists? Let us know @wearelocals_darwin.
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